English
Amateur Championship: Kruze in control to reach last eight By Bill MeredithElectronic Telegraph

IT WAS pure
wizardry; right out of the Harry Potter mould. Ben Kruze, 16 last
week, won six holes in a row from the second to beat Robert Cannon,
of West Derby, 6 & 5, and reach the last eight of the English Amateur
Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes yesterday.

Three birdies
and three pars meant the Warwickshire boys' captain was three under
par after seven holes and Cannon's resistance was broken. Not bad
for a young man who was only third reserve for this tournament and
has now won five matches since Monday and been under par in four
of them.

This morning
he meets Barry Barker, 27, of Reddish Vale, Cheshire, who destroyed
the hopes of Nick Dougherty, the 18-year-old from Lancashire considered
one of the best prospects in the country. Dougherty, three down
at one stage, made a long putt on the 17th to take the match to
the last.

After this
piece of magic, though, Dougherty came to grief on the 18th with
a poor approach shot. "That was terrible," he said. "Missing the
green from 112 yards after a perfect drive."

Another 16-year-old,
Simon Bell, from Yorkshire, advanced to the quarter-finals with
a 5 & 4 defeat of Tom Whitehouse, 20, the former England junior
cap. Bellstarted playing golf aged seven and had a handicap of five
by the time he was 13.

The England
Schools champion, started like a fire engine and was three up after
eight holes. He was four ahead at the 13th and any dreams Whitehouse
might have had of saving the match were dashed.

David Ryles,
of Surrey, beat David Skinns, the England boys cap from Lincolnshire,
on the 13th green. Ryles, a semi-finalist at the Amateur Championship
at Hoylake in June, won five holes in a row from the fourth while
Skinns seemed to find every bunker.

There are now
only four seeds left - Gary Wolstenholme, David Griffiths, John
Morgan and the holder, Paul Casey. Wolstenholme, 39, needed all
his experience to topple Sandeep Grewal 2 & 1, and Griffiths was
taken to the 18th in a tight match with Jonathan Evans.

Casey had to
battle hard to end a brave challenge from Roger Smithies to a halt
on the final green but Morgan, 22, from Somerset, performed in style
before the England selectors in beating Reading left-hander Geoff
Harris at the 15th.